Purposeful Rise: a choice to feel better

“The thought manifests as the word; The word as the deed; the deed developes into habit; and the habit hardens into character … as the shadow follows the body – as we think, so we become. ” -Buddha

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Post by:   Tracy Weaver, Life Coach, EFT Practitioner

All of your emotions, from the best to the worst, are valuable to you. They let you know where you are, what’s going on with you. So, please be easy about them – and you. When you are feeling low, depressed, angry, unappreciated, at least you know what direction you want to head in: feeling better!

Your emotions follow your thoughts. Thoughts always bring in more thoughts of similar kind, feeding the current emotion, making it stronger. When you’re feeling really good, milk your mood! Enjoy it! When your emotional state could stand some improvement, what to do? I mean, just try not thinking about the thing that’s got your attention. Unless you are an accomplished ‘meditator’, your active brain just isn’t going to let you. So what we need is some way to distract that ol’ “monkey mind“.

That’s it! Distraction! Get your brain off one scent and on to another! So okay, you want to feel better, and you want to distract your brain away from its current track of thoughts. Here’s a way. Purposefully turn your attention to gentle, general things you already know make you feel good. Non-challenging things, soothing things. Anything will do for starters. “Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.” I’m not kidding. If you are free to, go out and treat your physical senses to something that makes you smile and lifts your mood. As you do, you’ll naturally think about it. The first thought will pull in the second thought, the second a third, and as the happier thoughts continue and build, your mood will rise. Milk it, get in the habit of playing the game and celebrate the improvements!

I’m sure it sounds way too simple. But I can tell you from practice and experience that it works, reliably. You won’t leap wildly from dejected apathy to passionate joy. But, you can train your thoughts to move gently upward, a step or two at a time. As your mind gets better at this new skill, you’ll have a great tool to move on that new path upward to where you really want to live. And your thoughts will change.

Our Thanks to Tracy for contributing!

 

3 thoughts on “Purposeful Rise: a choice to feel better”

  2. I have found that focusing on something positive on those low days DOES make all of the difference in ‘pulling in’ more good. It has a snowball effect. If I am finding that the day was greeted with physical soreness, irritation, grumpy kids and a schedule that is pulling me along instead of flowing….I start by picking out my favorite mug (usually one of my Mom’s creations) and really bringing my mind to feeling grateful and enjoying that cup of coffee. That might move me to enjoying breakfast or a Hello from someone and that might bring me to realizing that my life is really NOT bad or stumbling. I can breathe, hold a favorite mug, drink coffee or even just appreciate hydrating with clean drinking water (a luxury for many) and move my day up, up, up.
    The next piece for me is realizing that there is not that much I HAVE to do on a bad day. go along with my schedule, meet my deadlines, check my patience hourly and let the day show its promise, it’s potential.
    🙂

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    1. i’m all about a good mug in the hands too, jess 🙂 the one i have next to me at the moment is black with a hearty red interior AND being thankful for the water i drink everyday…… my current thoughts on choice: a choice to rise does seem simple in concept – but not coming to reality as simple until practice in removing obstacles that clutter the mind has been refined. having experienced anxiety and the effects of deep emotional currents along with negative thought patterns, i appreciate this so much. years ago i read a quote from sylvia plath that said “is there no way out of the mind”… and thought, “she didn’t know about meditation or yoga” attributing this to her birth in the 30s assuming she was most likely not exposed to the options for getting out of the mind. also – at the time i read her quote i didn’t know about the heartaches she experienced or her profound depression. i wouldn’t claim to know how effective the changing of thoughts is for disease such as depression but do know that for most of us there is a way out of the mind. with regular practice of positive thought focus we can free ourselves of emotional states that are undesirable. this is a beautiful understanding to talk about and share with others…. glad tracy is in for contributing!!

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